


Scale and Steel (FFXIVWrite2020 Day 12 - Tooth and Nail)

by Ivelia



Series: FFXIV Write 2020 [12]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood Spoilers, Gen, Tumblr: FFXIVwrite2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:15:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26446210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivelia/pseuds/Ivelia
Summary: Part of my attempt for #FFXIVWrite2020 - September 12 (Day 12 - Tooth and Nail)His humanity foregone, what goes through the mind of the being that was formerly the Garlean crown prince?Spoiler for Stormblood (4.0) main story quest.
Series: FFXIV Write 2020 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1906951
Kudos: 1





	Scale and Steel (FFXIVWrite2020 Day 12 - Tooth and Nail)

He easily drowned out the pure rage that fuelled the eikon’s every thought, or rather, lack thereof, and took command of its body, overriding whatever original purpose the creature had left. He did not know how it would actually feel beforehand, or even if it would really work, but after actually fusing with its essence, it only felt  _ familiar _ , as it should be, as if it had always been like so. He now had thick, impenetrable scales in lieu of clothes and armour, tooth and nail in place of weapons, and above all, the  _ power of a god to command _ , and an instinctual knowledge of how to use it.

Still, It was a queer feeling, perceiving the world through something else’s senses; the scalekin-like deity seemed to have a dulled sense of touch, courtesy of its razor sharp scales, and the sense of scale was markedly different; although he was accustomed to figuratively and literally look down on people, but now that he was a dragon that exceeded tens of malms in size, this feeling was amplified accordingly. But really, how he was perceiving the world was not important. The only thing of import was what he was seeing; through these divine eyes, he was delighted to take in her look of surprised horror, then cold determination at his transformation.

With his original form, he had felt her reticence; blows that should have come at him with lethal force and speed felt dull, hesitant,  _ unsatisfying _ . Somewhere, deep inside, he almost felt offended that she thought that she could still hold back when facing him. Was she still pretending? Was she still hoping that this story of theirs could end with somehow her beating him into submission, then applying to him the weak simulacrum of justice of those savages, where he would end up contritely repenting for his perceived wrongdoings, and spend the rest of his existence rotting away in the boredom of an Eorzean prison?  _ No way _ . He had already spent too long rotting in ennui; now that he had finally found something worth dying for,  _ something worth living for _ , there was no way he’d let anyone or anything prevent him from enjoying it to the fullest. Their fight was not to be desecrated by the petty rules of mortal men. _“Victory for the Empire” “For Eorzea” “Freedom for Ala Mhigo”_... To them, these empty words were utterly meaningless.

He was freed from the fetters of his dull, mortal existence, and she was free from having to maintain appearances; now that he was literally a monster himself, having shed his human form, she had no excuses, no pretext to repress her strength. He internally smiled, his euphoria manifesting in an earth shattering roar. 

\- (Now that you have your favourite prey in front of you, show me your true ferocity)

He flew away, an invitation to pursuit that he knew she would take; after all, if she was to stay faithful to her namesake, she had to, since he was now an eikon to be slain. And once they reached a somewhat appropriate area, he started his attacks slowly, putting this body through its paces, and getting a handle on his newfound strength, as well as testing how much she could take; it would be a pity if he was to flatten her like a pancake in their first exchange. But soon, he realized that she was able to fend off with ease most of the attacks he could throw at her. His enlarged body and their current fighting stage made physical blows a bit cumbersome to use, but still, she was able to avoid or shrug off elemental assaults a normal human being should have no business enduring. He marvelled at her resilience; was it the result of her recent tribulations across the corners of the world? Or had she been holding back all along?

He wanted to push her to the brink, to see how far she could go, how far they could go, summoning lesser familiars to distract her while he was concentrating the divine beast’s power into a singularly powerful  _ Protostar  _ beam, but she was even able to weather  _ that _ , a little bit bruised and battered, but still fit to fight. Then why did her blows still feel so soft...? Was she still afraid of collateral damage? Or having her true nature seen? It was true that this setting felt a bit lacking for the fight of their lives; and with the siege for Ala Mhigo still raging on nearby, intruders might soon come to spoil their fun…

\- “The heavens are too small a field for our dance. Let us transcend this mortal coil!” The power of the divine beast tore through the sky and reality as they flew to a grander stage, where not even the stars could intervene; the shimmering lights of that dreamscape a perfect backdrop to their encounter:

\- (Now, show me everything!) 

He could feel his own strength dissipate with every nick and scratch she dealt to his scale armour, every parried blow dulling his nails on her metal. Yet  _ it did not matter _ , nothing was more important than this battle, than the previous blow, the current block, the next counter. And as she fluttered around his monstrous form, he could finally see it too on her face, unbridled, unleashed in the exhilaration of their lethal dance, her bloodthirsty smile as she recovered from a particularly vicious attack, her lips articulating in mute invitation the same words that had been echoing in his mind:

\- (More… More...! Is that all you’ve got?) And so they fought, ferociously, viciously, ruthlessly; each giving as much as they took, each of their attacks striking true and hard, scale, sword, claw and armour singing in discontentment, until his unfortunately insufficient vessel could no longer hold on. His current form unravelled and he dissociated from the dissipating form of the beast, falling like a star plucked from the sky. 

\- (So… This is how it ends)

They had fought tooth and nail given their all in the fight, and the victor had been decided, yet, in spite of his defeat, he felt happy, the happiest he had ever been. He did not want this to end, yet, with their return to the mortal coil, came the realisation that this has been but a transient instant, as he could hear the steps of incoming outsiders intruding on their meeting; whatever would come next, the chances that he would never taste these feelings again…  _ Nay. _ He could not,  _ would not _ , let this memory sour and fade, and let it be engraved in his soul as the apex of his existence, his heart overflowing with gratitude:

\- "Farewell, my first friend. My enemy."

Having delivered his final partings, he decisively let his lifeblood spill through his severed neck, slipping to the cold embrace of death; and as his gaze met hers, he saw a twinge of shared regret, and the illusion of a mouthed sentence:

\- (I had fun today, let’s play together again sometimes)

**Author's Note:**

> Today's prompt is "Tooth and Nail" [with all one's resources or energy; fiercely]. However my poor brain was like "what has teeth and nails?" So I ended up writing a piece about what could have gone through Zenos' head during the Royal Menagerie encounter.
> 
> Canonically from the quest log, we fight Zenos with a band of faceless adventurers, but from the cinematic it doesn't look like this is what happened (like we magic eikon-slaying co-adventurers to us when convenient but still need to do the legwork and shitty fetch quests on our own? xD)... Though as of the newest patch we have a lore compliant explanation for this kind of stuff so "yay I guess" xD)
> 
> Also it might be the Wol+Zenos brainworm but when I see Lyse and Alphinaud popping up after the fight I'm like "Don't interrupt this moment aaaaaa" xD
> 
> One line of the Chronicles of Light still leaves me puzzled, when he mentions that _battle brings no euphoria_.... Is it that until he met the WoL? or is that he is pursuing something completely different? I might be completely off in my interpretation of the character aaaaaa


End file.
